Pentagon to Offer Direct News Service - Iraq

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http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040227/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_pentagon_s_news&cid=540&ncid=1480

KUWAIT CITY, Kuwait - The U.S. military will launch its own news service in Iraq (news - web sites) and Afghanistan (news - web sites) to send military video, text and photos directly to the Internet or news outlets.


The $6.3 million project, expected to begin operating in April, is one of the largest military public affairs projects in recent memory, and is intended to allow small media outlets in the United States and elsewhere to bypass what the Pentagon (news - web sites) views as an increasingly combative press corps.


U.S. officials have complained that Iraq-based media focuses on catastrophic events such as car bombs and soldiers' deaths, while giving short shrift to U.S. rebuilding efforts.


The American public "currently gets a pretty slanted picture," said Army Capt. Randall Baucom, a spokesman for the Kuwait-based U.S.-led Coalition Land Forces Command. "We want them to get an opportunity to see the facts as they exist, instead of getting information from people who aren't on the scene."

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